Combination head and signal light



No. 620,937. Patented Man-l4, I899. L. W. LANING.

CUMBINATIUN HEAD AND SIGNAL LIGHT.

licat ion filad Mar. 21, 189

(No Model.)

'NITED STATES 1 PATENT OFFICE.

LEROY W. LANING, OF CINCINNATI, O HIO.

COMBINATION HEAD AND SIGNAL LIGHT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,9 7, dated Ma c 4, 1899- Application filed March 21,1898. Serial No. 674,662. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEROY W. LANING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combination Head and Signal Light, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in what are known as head and signal lights for locomotives, and more particularly to the construction and arrangement of the side or signal lights and of the reflector of the headlight; and it consists, essentially, in utilizing the light from the headlight-lamp, from which it is conveyed by conduits to signal boxes or lights and reflected through the signal-lens, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth and described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my combined headlight and signalboxes. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the headlight, partly in section. Fig; 3 is a horizontal section, taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, of one of the signal-boxes. Fig. 4: is a cross-section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Like letters of reference indicate identical parts in all the figures.

The headlight A is provided with a tele-, scopic reflector a, being made in two sections, as clearly seen in Fig. 2. The one section a v of this reflector a is attached to the lampframe b, which is of the usual well-known construction.

Entering the headlight A from the sides are conduits c 0, preferably made to diverge at their opposite ends, to which are attached signal boxes or lights B B, which signal-lights may be arranged to reston the hand-rail of the engine. These conduits 0 center the headlight from the side immediately opposite the flame or light of the lamp in the headlightA and are preferably made in sections, the one section 0 being attached to the portion a of the reflector, which has openings immediately adjacent the flame corresponding withsaid sections, these sections being so constructed as to overlap and fit snugly against the other section 0'. I have shown the contact ends as being correspondingly cut out, so as to perconstructed of a single tube without first withdrawing the conduits and necessarily dis= placing the side or signal lights. The rays of light are thus conveyed by the conduits c c in a diverging manner to the signal-boxes B B, where the rays'strike the reflector d and are reflected through the lens 6. It is of course necessary that the reflector d be placed at the proper angle, so that the light will be properly reflected through the lens 6 of the sign al-light. In order to insure the correct placing of this reflector d, I prefer to mount it in a framework d, Fig. 3, in which one end of the framework is shown, the other or upper end being of course of a similar construction. It will be seen that this frame (1 can only be slid in the signal-box in the proper way, thus avoiding any mistake. Of course it will be understood that other forms of frames for the reflector 01 may be used which will insure the correct angle of the reflector.

I prefer to have the conduits c a made in sections, as I have illustrated in Fig. 1, having one section 0 stationarily'inscrted in the headlight and the other section fitting within said stationary section, thus permitting of the removal of the signal-lights and conduits when desired. For convenience I construct the flaring end of the conduit c with a flanged collar, which takes in a slideway f on the signal-light, as seen in Fig. 3, thereby making it possible to readily remove the signal-lights from the respective conduits, if it is desired for any purpose. The lenses in the signal-1i ghts are also put in slideways, as seen in Fig. 3, thus permitting the lens to be removed and another lens of the desired color inserted in place. To permit of the removal of the reflector and the lens, of course the lid or top of the signallight is hinged and can be thrown open when desired.

Ice

With my construction the light for the signal-boxes is obtained in a direct manner, and but one reflector is necessary to throw the light through the lens of the signal-lights,and, as will be understood, with the conduits extending from a point immediately alongside the flame in the headlight a strong light is conducted through the conduits c c, which permit the light to diverge and strike the concave reflector d, which reflects it through the lens, thereby producinga much stronger light than was obtainable by the constructions heretofore used, and the necessity of a number of reflectors is thus obviated, by reason of which the strength of the light is greatly enhanced.

With my conduits being placed on the side it of course is necessary to have the headlight to open at the rear; but as it is necessary at times to have access to the lamp inside the headlight it would be necessary to remove the headlight should the door he made the entire width of the rear side of the headlight. I have therefore shown my headlight with a double door g g, the one consisting of apart of the side and rear walls and hinged to the side, thus forming an angled door g". (Shown in section, Figs. 2 and 4.) By having the door constructed as described and the reflector in sections the lamp need not be entirely withdrawn from the headlight to permit of access to the burner portion thereof for the purpose of lighting the same, it simply being necessary to unlatch the doors and permit the slight drawing back of the lamp fount or reservoir and burner, to which a portion a of the reflector is attached, whereby a sufficient opening will be made between the portions of the reflector to permit the lighting of the burner without necessitating its entire withdrawal, as was the case with constructions heretofore in use, in which case should it be necessary to relight the lamp or headlight at any time while the engine is moving a great deal of difficulty would be experienced owing to the rushing air. This difficulty is entirely obviated with my improved headlight, and it will be seen that the lamp may be lighted while the headlight is in place on the engine.

I have shown the headlight in Fig. 1 with side diverging walls, thus makingit of greater width at the rear than at the front, the object of which is to permit of the reading of any figures that may be stenciled therein, in which case the reflector is provided with another set of openings h h, which openings are of course placed somewhat above the side openings for the conduits and will permit of sufficient light to be conveyed into the upper portion of the hood or casing, sufficiently illuminating the upper portion of the casing A to enable the reading of any stenciling that it may be desired to put in the casing A.

The doors of course are fastened in place by any of the well-known contrivances.

The lamp, which consists of the reservoir 1) and the burner connected with it, is fixed on the sliding frame or base 7', and attached to the same is the rear portion a of the reflec tor, which when in place telescopes or fits within the forward portion a of the reflector. When the doors are opened, this sliding frame, carrying with it part of the reflector,

can be slid or drawn back or entirely removed. It will readily be understood that by sliding this lamp back a sufficient distance the openings into the conduits c c are closed, and only when this sliding frame carrying the lamp and the rear portion of the reflector a is pushed forward into place, as shown in Fig. 2, will the light from the lamp pass through the conduits 0 c to the signal-boxes B 13.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination with a head-light having a two-part reflector, the one part attached to the lamp-frame and provided with side openings adjacent the burner, of laterally extending sectional conduits whose one ends register with said side openings in the reflector, and signal-boxes provided with suitable reflectors, said signal-boxes detachably connected to the other ends of said conduits, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

2. The combination with a headlight having a two-part reflector, the one part attached to the lamp-frame and provided with side openings adjacent the burner, of signal-boxes provided with slidably-mounted concaved reflectors, and laterally extending sectional conduits to convey the light transmitted through the openings in the reflector, to said signal-boxes, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In combined head and signal lights, consisting of a headlight with a two-part reflector therein, the movable part of said reflector having openings immediately adjacent the burner, the openings provided with flaring sectional conduits extending from the side of the headlight,the combination of signal-boxes attached to said laterally-extendin g conduits whereby light is conveyed to the signal-boxes in a diffused but direct manner, with concave reflectors removably mounted in said signalboxes to receive the diffused light and reflect same to form signal-lights, substantially as and in the manner shown and described.

4. The combination of head and signal lights, with two-part reflector in said headlight, and laterally-extending conduits for conveying the rays of light from the headlight to the signal-boxes, said headlight provided with double doors, one of which forms part of the side and rear walls, whereby ready access may be hadto the headlight, substantially as and in the manner described.

LEROY W. LANING.

Witnesses:

GEORGE I'IEIDMAN, CLARENCE E. MEHLHOPE. 

